My eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom, but even so, I was almost too late to catch where Rasho had gone. A crooked wall panel—this time between two crates—and then a broken section in the outer town wall itself. It was a complete surprise to me to find this weak spot, but apparently, it hadn’t been a secret to my young. Perhaps it was a well-known sneakaway for all of them; we had those when I was young.
Nisha was quick to leap off my back and follow through the narrow gap, and though my instincts told me to go first, I let her. “Go,” I said to Jolene, grabbing her by the back of her head for a quick, rough kiss before I pushed her after my younglings. She was small like them and quickly crawled through. It took me a bit of wedging to get myself through the hole with my backpack, some scales scraping a little roughly on wood, but then I was through, too.
“Well done,” I told all of them. “Well done!” For the first time, I actually believed we just might make it.
Chapter 17
Jolene
The snowshoes worked, but that didn’t make trekking through the snow any more pleasant. At least my legs and shoes weren’t getting soaked through and through, though the steps were awkward and strange. It definitely wasn’t nearly as fast as the Naga could move. That meant I was struggling to keep up with everyone as we crossed from the village back into the woods.
Khawla carried me first, but once we hit the treeline, he put me down and whispered with his boys. I could only catch little bits because I was fussing over Nisha, her coat had come loose in the rush, and she was flagging greatly after all that excitement. She was injured and in pain, and being very tough about it. “Hide and seek” was pretty much the only thing I was certain I heard right.
When we set out next, I discovered that Rasho and Daois were using branches to fan away my obvious tracks. The clever boys had already saved our bacon with that secret exit,and now they were covering my trail so we couldn’t be found. By now, we could hear sounds from the town that told us hunting parties were coming after us—they had realized we’d slipped past the wall somehow.
It was also growing darker with the setting of the sun, but I was too busy to be cold right now. I was either carrying Nisha or holding her by the hand while frantically trying to keep track of Khawla and the boys. Khawla was only visible by the pack on his back, and his oldest boy nearly vanished against the snow. His scales clearly had the same quirk as his dad’s—it was very impressive.
“They are closing in,” Khawla whispered when he paused beside me to help me free my clunky snowshoe from some hidden roots. “I am going to hide you with the young, and then lead them away. Okay? They’ll keep you warm.” Like I cared about numb toes right now. The only thing that mattered was getting the kids to safety. It was too bad his attempt to call for aid hadn’t worked; that moment had seemed so hopeful.
“Okay,” I said. “I will keep them safe,” I vowed, and he blinked once with his pretty jewel eye. His expression turned warm and wistful as he dipped to kiss me, something I was beginning to think he was extremely fond of doing. When he raised his head again, it was to pick Nisha and me up off the ground. She made a growly, protesting noise but didn’t struggle as he picked up the pace.
We had been approaching the mountains all this time, but they still seemed very far away. The terrain had gotten hillier and a bit more rocky, though, and when we reached a very narrow crevice, I realized he wanted us to hide in there. It wasn’t even big enough to fit him, but itwasquite deep. The younglings and I could crawl into it single file and hide. It could work.
Nisha didn’t like this either, but when I crawled in with her—hauling Khawla’s big backpack after me—she went.
It was a very tight squeeze once we’d piled in, and I didn’t like that Rasho was the one at the end. I tried to convince him to move back and just got a stern glare that reminded me far too much of Khawla. Of course, Daois thought that was good fun and, perhaps aided by the scary days and the exhaustion, broke into hysterical laughter. Soon, I wasn’t just trying to stay warm and keep the kids safe, I was fighting to keep them quiet. I did not expect to suddenly be wrangling a classroom of rowdy kids—or at least, that’s what it felt like.
I knew Khawla had obscured our tracks into the crevice, but once the kids had settled down, I still worried. Rasho and Daois were curled up together against my legs, but not asleep. Nisha was on my other side, on top of the backpacks like it was a throne or a nest. I definitely would have gotten cold if not for that tight huddle. Where was he, taking all the risks on little to no sleep? I knew he was skilled, but that did not make me worry less.
Then I saw a Naga slither by, and all of us went tight with tension. It wasn’t Khawla, but he was definitely blue—and that meant dangerous. I did not recognize him in the dark, just saw the jewel-glitter of his scales and the pale swath of hair dangling over one shoulder. Rasho did, though, whispering almost soundlessly: “Uncle Reshar.”
He could be right. If itwasReshar, how had he found us, and was he going to help again? Probably, why change his tune now, right? He slithered around a nearby tree, ducked back with his head cocked at an angle, and then lifted his eyes to gaze straight into our hiding spot. Khawla had smoothed out the snow in front of it, but he had not covered the entrance with anything. I hoped that meant it all looked natural, but perhaps Reshar could see into the darkness where we hid.
He cocked his head in what could almost be construed as a greeting, and then he turned away, tail feathering across the snow and smoothing out some more furrows. He left as quietly as he’d come, leaving behind nothing but utterlypristine snow. Then his voice rose somewhere in the distance, and though I couldn’t quite make it out, it sounded like he might be pointing hunters in another direction. It made Rasho smirk, his grin wide and pale in the dark.
It felt like it had to be midnight by the time Khawla came back. I’d fallen asleep with my arms around the kids and startled when a tail brushed along my wrist to wake me. He could not fit inside himself, but he could reach in with his tail. “They are gone, for now. We need to get to Artek’s home.” Drowsy, it took me a minute to figure out what he said and how to get my body to move. I was sore and tired, and if I was, I couldn’t imagine what it was like for the kids.
Rasho slipped outside so that Khawla could scoop Nisha and Daois out of the crevice with his tail. Then, while I struggled to shove the packs outside, he crawled back in to assist me. I was infinitely grateful, but I could see that even Khawla’s oldest was on his last legs—uh, tail.
With the little ones cradled against Khawla’s chest, I floundered along at his side on my clunky snowshoes. Rasho was ahead of us at first, scouting the way, then stubbornly at my side until he started flagging. Truthfully, so was I. I wanted to hang tough, to offer to carry the boy and to follow stubbornly along behind his father. I just didn’t have anything left to give.
He was slightly ahead of us, his long, big body reflecting light in the exact same way the snow did. He nearly vanished, except for the glitter of his one good eye. “We’ll take a break,” he said gently, but I shook my head. If I stopped now, I would not be getting up again, my feet hurt too badly, and my thighs were burning.
His expression grew tight. I could see the way his brow cast a shadow over his face as he gave me that same stern look I had received from his son earlier that night. “How far is it?” I asked, and when he didn’t immediately reply, I knew it was far, too far. The dark meant I couldn’t even see themountains now, not when a thick cloud cover obscured the stars and moon.
Shuddering, I made myself take another painful step, my fingers squeezing gently around Rasho’s small ones to urge him along with me. He did, possibly more bravely than I did, but it wasn’t right to cling tohimfor help when he was the child. I was firmer with the next step, and my ankle wobbled on the snowshoe. When had I stopped feeling my toes? I couldn’t remember.
“Enough,” Khawla said, and he was next to me then, his tail slipping around my waist to steady me. It was all Rasho needed to hear to sink into a few loops and coils where he was, collapsing like a house of cards in utter exhaustion. I leaned into Khawla’s grip and felt his heat through my layers, realizing I was heading toward dangerously cold again. When I said so, he glared. “Damn it, Jolene. Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
“I didn’t realize. That’s the danger of hypothermia, be glad I didn’t go bonkers and start stripping out of my clothes, thinking I was too warm instead. That can happen, you know.” I was babbling a bit, covering the exhaustion and the niggle of fear that I was in serious risk of losing fingers or toes once again. Not fun. My words must have covered the noise, because when I stopped, we all heard it clearly.
A soft whizzing—or maybe it was a zooming—approached quickly, though it didn’t rise much in volume until we saw something silver flash out from beneath the trees. A hover vehicle of some kind. “Khawla?” a voice called out when it came to a stop a short distance away. A head popped out of the vehicle, pale and silver, followed by a second.
“Nala!” I called out, shocked to see a human face—one I knew—rise behind the silver shimmer of hair of her Naga companion. “Did you get our message? You came!” Cold forgotten, I waved, but even my arms were too heavy to move much.
She leaped out of the hover vehicle, assisted by her mate. This was Artek, the Shaman whom Khawla had tried to call for aid. So, whoever had been on that comm call had understood just enough to try to help. The human was kitted out in much better winter gear than I was, all of it well-tailored. That included her boots, allowing her to cross the distance in the powdery snow quickly and throw her arms around my neck.
“Ah, Jolene, we didn’t know you’d be here! I’m so glad to see you!” she said, hugging me tightly. I sagged against her, and Khawla’s glowing tail clutched me more tightly to hold me up, taking nearly all my weight. “And you’re mated, congratulations,” she added.
